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Janie Albright (Blank)

Joe, following up on Mike's advice on editing a post you've already submitted, if you don't see the edit or delete choices you aren't logged on. Once you are logged on you can go to your post and click on edit button. If you are just responding to the email notification that there are new posts you can read them but you might not be logged on and you won't see those choices. 
 

David Mitchell

Joe,

I was not aware that Sister Norbertine had changed her name. What a fun memory she was!

I must admit, I think she was an outstanding Algebra teacher, but oh, what a funny character! Her animated personality, that serious lisp, and her expressions, were a source of much commentary back in the day. One of my favorites was when she caught someone not paying attention she would roll her head over the sky and say, "Come day, go day, God send Sunday".

I was somehow placed in the faster math classes  with the likes of the Hodges, Yarborough, Roach crowd (God only knows why). Charlie Kaps was also in those classes with us and he and I were contsantly interrupting her with questions - I mean maybe six or eight times a day. She would stop, roll her eyes in dusgust, and call on us. One time when she had just about had her fill of my questions she said, "Michael" (she always called me Michael) "you are sccchhhlow to grassssspp. But once you have it, you never forget it."  

And who could forget her "rosary repair business". She kept that tiny pair of needle nosed pliers, and her supply of links and beads on her waist belt - ready for service at all times.

Speaking of her name, I just now put two and two together - I think Steve Hodges religious order is the Norbertine Fathers

Joseph Gentilini

David, I am not sure when she actually changed her name - sometime after Vatican II.  I forgot the lisp and the clicking dentures which obviously did not fit  well.  She had a picture of JFK right behind her desk next to the windows and we very upset when he died.  I was also placed with the smart classmates (Hodges, Reid, etc.), but I learned my Algebra 1.  Unfortunately, I was then placed with the smart ones again for Geometry which i found difficult.  I really was over my head in Algebra 2 and Trig with Sister Mary Malcom (who changed her name later to Loreen (Sp?) and I scraped by only.  She never smiled.  When it came to Calculus and Physics in my senior year, I decided not to take those courses.  As I remember I only got Cs with Algebra 2 and Trig so why would I not get Cs or even Ds in those senior courses.  I went to Sr. Gertrude's funeral which was an eye-opener.  Gertrude had thought of suicide at one point and didn't think she would go to heaven.  Thank God, the sister in charge when Gertrude was in Mohan Hall (the sisters nursing  home), helped her to see that she would go to heaven.  joe

Joseph Gentilini

I also remember the story (although I was not in the class when it happened) that her dentures fell out into her hands.  That would have been funny and sad at the same time.  Does anyone remember Sister ? in Homeroom11?  I can't remember her name, but she was very old.  I heard that she watered her plastic flowers on the window ledge every morning.  One day, someone tied very thin string to the flowers and as she watered them, the 'grew.'  Wonder if that story is true.  Also Sister Hillary who taught math, I think) that freshman year.  Someone put a dead fish in her drawer which she later found.  Is that story true also? 

Bill Reid

Ok, it's time for me to go to public confession, after all these years. I was the one Joe Gentilini refers to in his post. I sat near the window in Sister Francesca's homeroom #111. We all knew she watered her plastic flowers, which sat in a flowerpot on the window ledge. So one day I tied a thread to the plastic flowers, looped the thread over the handle that opened the windows (no air conditioning back then, I guess) and held the thread under my seat. When Sister Francesca came over to water her flowers, I tugged on the string and the flowers popped up an inch or so. She stopped, had a look of wonder on her face, and then watered them again. I again pulled on the thread and the flowers "grew" another inch. She stopped again with a quizzical look on her face, and then said, "Well, it's about time they grew!". Needless to say, muffled laughter reigned in the room. I've not admitted to doing this for many years but Joe's posting prompts me to come clean about my misbehavior. Poor Sister Francesca! She gave us lots to laugh about; what unruly teenagers we were back then! or, maybe, just me!!!

Michael McLeod

I pity you, Bill. You're gonna be doing some hard time in purgatory for that.

James Hamilton, M. D.

The Power of Nature

Forty-three years ago this morning Mt. Saint Helens erupted. Late that afternoon when I left work my car was enshrouded in a fine silver-gray powder of volcanic ash, 1320 miles from that blast. 

Jim

David Mitchell

Bill,

I can just hear "Geraldine" (Flip Wilson) offering the same excuse you would have used - "da debil made me do dat" .

Joseph Gentilini

Okay, Bill, you are absolved but what type of penance should you do for such a horrible thing to do to an old woman who probably had difficulty knowing reality from fantasy?  She will be waiting for you in heaven expecting a real apology!  HA!

John Maxwell

David Mitchell

"Kirk,,, out"

James Hamilton, M. D.

John M.,

I thought about mentioning Yellowstone in my post as I have followed much of the info on that massive volcanic area. But since Mt. St. Helens actually did erupt I figured that was enough of a scare - and perhaps a warning - of cataclysmic events that will happen sometime in the future. Just thinking about such an event is truly mind boggling and would likely create a long, major nuclear-like night that would drastically change ALL life on earth. Maybe even the Biblical end? Or perhaps humans, like after the dinosaurs demise, will allow other species which could survive, to start a new evolutionary trend and earth will go on. 

Jim

Michael McLeod

Yeah I'm gonna bend the rules a bit and put something political on this side. Because it's funny as well as being scary as hell.

This book is now banned in my state.

As part of our guv's presidential campaign he kicked off a program to go through all the textbooks in Florida Public Schools to wean them of anything that even hints at alternative lifestyles.

Guess that includes penguins.

And no I am not making this up. Here is the title of the book and a description from the publisher's fb page:

And Tango Makes Three

The heartwarming true story of two penguins who create a nontraditional family is now available in a sturdy board book edition.

At the penguin house at the Central Park Zoo, two penguins named Roy and Silo were a little bit different from the others. But their desire for a family was the same. And with the help of a kindly zookeeper, Roy and Silo got the chance to welcome a baby penguin of their very own.

In time for the tenth anniversary of And Tango Makes Three, this Classic Board Book edition is the perfect size for small hands.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

A reply to Mike's recent post will be forthcoming on the User Forum. 

Michael McLeod

Crap. Thought I could get away with it.

But in all seriousness this a significant issue in the current culture wars that calls for a lot of thought on issues that are far more subtle than others - and I want to say mysterious - when it comes to young people, and I mean really young people, and sexuality.

But I will say no more - at least not over here, and perhaps not even over there. It's a fundamental, deep-rooted question. I'm familiar with it based on conversations I've had with parents and teachers, but I would love to explore whatever science has to say about it for my own satisfaction. Which I may well do. At this point I truly believe that a child's sexual orientation is innate, from birth, and it does not always match up to the package they happen to be born with. 

I have made so many gay friends and met so many extremely hard working and compassionate public-school teachers, now caught in the culture-wars crossfire,  since I moved to Florida, and I cherish them. I'd rather just do that. I'm thinking they need the support. That, I know, will make a difference. This? Doubtful. Once I see the word "grooming" I'm gone.

Swear to God I'm thinking of getting back into yoga. These times are so damn upsetting. 

Joseph Gentilini

Okay Michael, you started the political comments and so I will chime in.  I agree with your sentiments about what is happening in Florida and across the country.  Banning books, telling parents what medical treatments they cannot arrange for their children or for themselves, etc., come right out of what Hitler started under the Nazis. It is the beginning of fascism.  For a party that says it has wants less government intrusion in our lives, it obviously does not believe that anymore.  A few years ago your governor told parents that they could refuse to go along with any requirement for their children to wear masks and that it was not the government's business.  Now he says the government has every right to dictate what parents or persons can read or do for their themselves or children.  This country is going into a dangerous times.  joe

Michael McLeod

We're not supposed to talk about grownup stuff on this side, Joe.

Now I've gone and got you in trouble too.

Please excuse me everybody. I was just having a fit of pique.

I hate it when that happens.  

But seriously, Joe, we are in a dangerous era from the looks of it, but bear in mind one thing: There have been divides on these issues from long, long ago. That's nothing new. What's new is that number one, the Internet gives everybody a voice. That's overall a good thing, but it also mean you see, and I see, and we all see, the expression of lots and lots of conflicting opinions that have been there all along. Then there is number two, which is that the political playbook is different, at least for some politicians, who take extreme stances and rely on them to attract enough support so they can stay in the game. That's a new permutation. Say what you will about Trump but he had the smarts to take advantage of it, and that opened the door for more.

There is a bigger platform and visiblility now for a broader variety of voices, some of which are, to me at least, quite disturbing.  The fascinating question is how things will play out in a couple of years. At our age we will be ok. It's the young-uns who'll be battling it out.

Add the issue with the national debt and hell yes it can keep you up nights. Hence the pique. 

Joseph Gentilini

MEA CULPA!   joe

David Mitchell

I began watching pro football because of one guy - Jim Brown.

He died today at age 87. Thre are many news articles calling him one of the best players ever. They are incorrect. He was simply thee best - ever!

And considered to be also thee best collegee LaCrosse player - ever! He was an All-American at Syracuse in both sports. He should have won the Heismann Trophy, but he was Black and finished 5th behind Notre Dame's Paul Hornung (1956, I think). Later, in 2020 the College Football Hall of Fame went back and named Brown the greatest college player of all time. And he was an excellent basketball payer.

A  great story about him playing in a game between the Browns and  New York Giants as he was hounded all day by Sam Huff - the NY Giants great middle linebacker. As Huff told it in an interview, he would tackle Brown and yell at him as he was getting up off of the top of him - "You Stink Brown!" 

After several of these insults, Jim ran right over Huff and scored a touchdown. Jim looked back from the end zone and yelled, "How do I smell from here Sam?"

I don't expect to ever see anything like him again. 

I am sorry the video won't play, but you all know his story.

How about this photo instead. 

Or this one?

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

With the closure of Saint Anthony school, 70 students will be joining.the IC school community next year. They were invited to spend some time getting acquainted with their future classmates this past week.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/977791683657567

Note to Mike....reply to your post has not been forgotten....coming soon 🙂

David Mitchell

I had forgotten that there even was a St. Anthon's parish and school.

Once again I ask, "Hey Rome, it's 2023. How about married priests!"

p.s.

I wish Watterson had a program like this for new incoming students in their actuall classes. When we moved back from Denver my two oldest were Junior and Sophomore. They had a new student "orientation day" with one or two student volunteers to show each of them around the building, but no real effort on the part of the teachers to introduce the kids in their classes and help the them get to know each other once they started full classes. It was really pathetic!

It made me recall how I used to hear the frustration that two new girls I dated were going through when they moved to Columbus. I listened, but it really didn't hit me till it was my own kids.

David Mitchell

Where Blame is Due?

I suppose it's too political this week to recall that Bush Jr, got us into two very expensive wars (whose causes I supported), but deciided not to pay for them at the time. Instead of a tax increase (which JFK used to pay for Vietnam), Bush floated more bonds so that the cost could be passed on to a later generation.

(raising taxes is not a great idea during "re-election" times)

And I suppose It's too political to recall how much corruption and waste was spent in Afghanistan while Brother Barack spent eight years twidling his thumbs, while American "contractors" were bilking the Pentagon spicket like a fire hose.

And I suppose that it's too political to for me call Trump's 2 TRILLION dollar tax cut for the upper income brackets one of the most ridiculous ideas,,,, EVER!   

But would it be too political for me to recall that Trump himself raised the Federal Debt Ceiling once a year, for all four years he was in office?

Yea, probaly too political.

Maybe I should stick to Gordon Lightfoot videos.

Michael McLeod

I keep wondering how the immediacy of the internet will change civilization, more specifically how individuals in civilization will process information, and - yes, I'm going in circles here - how that may change civilization.

It's one thing to read and hear and be fed information about, say, war. But today I saw drone footage of Bakhmut, a city that has been destroyed by russian bombardment and is now deserted.

And I thought: how insane, how useless, how horrible.

How can the human race keep making these bullshit mistakes.

Sure I have that thought on a regular basis. But the fact that the image is out there with such immediacy and available to anyone on the internet. Doesn't that put us all in the same classroom in roughly the same time frame, regardly of where we live and what language we speak and what country we are from? 

I wish I could think that it would make a difference. But I don't.

I'm clearly getting deeper and deeper into a grumpy old age. 

All those high hopes I had as a hippie - I'll never let go of them. But that's the best I can do. That's the only lifesaver in sight. The one that says "hope," however faded the lettering has come to be.

David Mitchell

WARNING!

The following video is NOT  Gordon Lighfoot. 

Change is good.

Michael McLeod

Dave: Being pissed off under the current circumstances means you're relatively sane for your age.